I just like how Lord Nevar is trying to be a badass about it, but it seems like he doesn't realize that both Blizzard and Siera are owned by Vivendi.
The fact that Vivendi owns Blizzard and Sierra has nothing to do with Diablo:Hellfire, since once again someone not doing any research on the topic just jumps in with invalid information. So I will break it down a little bit better for you.
1996:
Sierra acquires Synergistic Software.
1997:
Sierra was given the license to develop an expansion pack to
Blizzard Entertainment's
role-playing game Diablo named
Hellfire. Blizzard was busy with developing an ultimately cancelled game entitled
Warcraft Adventures and didn't have the time or resources to develop the hotly awaited expansion. Sierra handed development duties to its subsidiary Synergistic Studios. Released in November 1997, the game flopped due to a lack of marketing, and Sierra and Blizzard never worked together again.
1998:
Cendant Software sold its consumer software operations, including Blizzard, to French publisher
Havas. In the same year Havas was purchased by
Vivendi. Blizzard became part of the VU Games group of Vivendi Universal
2000:
At the end of June 2000, a strategic business alliance between Vivendi, Seagram and Canal+ was announced and
Vivendi Universal, a leading global media and communications company, was formed. Havas S.A. was renamed Vivendi Universal Publishing and became the publishing division of the new group, divided into five groups: games, education, literature, health and information. The games division included Sierra On-Line, as well as Blizzard Entertainment and Universal Interactive Studios.
Looks to me that Vivendi had nothing to do with either of these companies till after the fact, so explain to me again what Vivendi has to do with any of this?
Official source and refrences supplied by:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Entertainment